


An Alternate Reality's Gift

by rozanyg



Series: Kallura Fics [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Realities, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, OC children - Freeform, Slow Burn, s7 onwards will be changed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-09-26 23:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17151215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rozanyg/pseuds/rozanyg
Summary: After the Paladins sacrificed the Castle of Lions for the sake of the universe, they found an Altean pod in its place. In it, were three kids who insisted on calling Keith and Allura their daddy and mommy. The only other thing in the ship was a holographic image with an explanation.Tumblr Prompt response. I may turn this into  multi-chapter thing.





	1. An Explosive Entrance

**Author's Note:**

> This is possibly one of my favorite AU ideas, I can't wait to write more for it. These kids have been in my drafts forever and this prompt was a perfect opportunity. Hope y'all enjoy it.

Allura pushed the Lions controls as fast as she could, urging Blue to fly farther and farther from her last memory of home. In a second, a yellow light invaded the Lion’s cockpit and she knew the job was done. The Castle of Lions was gone. If there could be sound in space, she would have guessed there was a loud explosion behind her. 

Allura sighed, already knowing that if she turned around, there would be no castle there anymore and that she no longer had anything to remind her of her childhood in Altea. She felt two hands on her shoulder and looked up to see Coran and Romelle looking down at her empathetically. She grabbed their hands in thanks and the three mourned the destruction of the last authentic Altean relic.

“That’s weird,” Pidge’s voice interrupted their mourning and Allura saw a chart before her and she read what seemed to be some quintessence sensors. “It seems like there was a sudden spike in quintessence levels right before the castle exploded. It’s the opposite of what should have happened. The castle was supposed to cancel out the immense quintessence and close all the transreality portals. However, according to my charts, quintessence levels rose right before the castle exploded.”

“And that’s weird because...,” Lance said.

“To simplify things a bit, something from another reality came in through a portal right before the castle destroyed them all.”

“Do you think it’s Lotor?” Keith asked, all ready for action in case of a worst case scenario.

“No, the quintessence signature is different from Lotor’s ship. It’s similar to the one from the Altean pods, though.”

“An Altean pod?” Coran asked, “But those were all in the castle while it was destroyed.”

“It isn’t one of ours per se. It’s different and more pure than ours, actually. It seems to be partly made up of the ore of a transreality comet.”

“Whoa, guys, check it out,” Hunk exclaimed, “It’s a crazy  _ awesome _ Altean pod.”

Sure enough, behind them was a ship reminiscent of those the castle held. It had a sleek design similar to the Altean ones, though this one was much bigger and more simplistic. It was simply floating in the space where the castle exploded without power, otherwise seemingly untouched by the powerful hit.

“What could be in there?” Allura asked, her curiosity spiking once she immediately noticed the similarities.

“We’re about to find out. Let’s investigate team,” Keith flew Black closer to the pod, the other lions closing in.

The five Paladins stood in front of the pod’s hatch, Krolia, Coran and Romelle watching over them in case of an emergency, Shiro still unconscious and in a pod in the Black Lion. “Shields up,” Keith ordered to his team, all of them activating their shields simultaneously. With a metallic ring, Keith’s blade was unsheathed and transformed into a sword, successfully cutting through the hatch and creating an opening, the hatch door now floating freely through space.

Lance called for his gun and jumped into the middle of the hatch’s opening, his Bayard aimed at whatever was inside. What he didn’t expect, however, was frantically dodging a flying, purple boomerang aimed for his face. He screamed in surprise and flailed around trying to dodge the boomerang’s continuous throws before Pidge pulled him back in. 

He took a breather on the sidelines and both Allura and Keith decided to jump into the fray, readying their weapons to fire. They were ready to see a horrible creature, a soldier from an alternate reality, maybe even an Altean from the reality they visited last time. They weren’t ready to see three kids though.

There was a little boy holding a sharp boomerang in his hand, a look of fury and confusion in his eyes. A girl sat behind him, an older girl, holding a sleeping baby in her arms; she was wearing the same look as the little boy in front of her.

She stood on her feet, no taller than Keith’s mid-thigh, and she took the little boy’s hand. Looking at the two Paladins with confusion and she analyzed their faces. She activated her small tiny jetpack to fly closer to Keith and Allura, flying into better lighting to let them both see her silver white hair, deep blue Altean marks, and indigo eyes peering up at them and letting them see the little boy’s silver white hair, magenta Altean marks and blue eyes and the little baby’s black hair, a noticeable absence of Altean marks and ears were evident.

The little girl only stopped when she floated right before them and she whispered in disbelief, “Mommy? Daddy?”

Allura blinked in surprise, her head immediately turning to face Keith, finding him already looking at her and her jaw dropped at the implications of the child. Keith then pulled away from her gaze bent down on one knee and putting on the softest face she has ever seen, “Hey, kid. I don’t know who you’re talking about. Are you lost?”

The little girl, clearly struggling for holding the baby for so long, had her arms trembling and tears pooled in her eyes and she cried, “Daddy!”

Allura’s heart broke when she saw the two older kids wrap their arms around Keith, completely taking him by surprise. They seemed exhausted, tired, and scared and they couldn’t be older than five deca-phoebs. The little boy peered up at Allura with his beautiful blue eyes and her heart melted. He extended his small hand and Allura offered her finger, the little boy wrapping his hand around it entirely and pulling her towards their group hug.

The kids were crying in their arms, sobbing in fact, and Keith and Allura didn’t have the heart to correct them. If they reminded them of their missing parents, then they’ll play along for now. They came to a silent agreement after sharing a glance.

“Whoa, uh, did you two forget to tell us something?”

At Lance’s voice, the two kids ears perked up, both of them pointed like Allura’s and their eyes sparkled beneath their tears. The little boy gasped, “Unk Lance!” and he jumped from Keith’s embrace and into Lance’s arms, the Latino struggling to catch the boy in a safe position after being caught off guard. The little girl’s eyes widened at seeing Hunk and she jumped from Keith’s arms too and into Hunk’s arms, “Uncle Hunk!”

She squealed when she saw Pidge and she pointed at the petite genius, “Aunt Pidge!”

Hunk and Lance wasted no time in distracting the kids, noticing that serious must have happened once they noticed the kids’ body shaking. Keith was left kneeling on the floor with a baby in his arms, the small boy snoozing as if nothing was going on.

The little girl suddenly gasped and the five Paladins turned to look at her immediately, all of them worried that something was happening to her. She scrambled out of Hunk’s grasp and she flew into the pod again, Keith and Allura following her once she beckoned them to follow. She pressed her hand on a panel inside the ship and, suddenly, a blue holographic screen lit up the dark pod. 

On the screen were older versions of both Keith and Allura with worried, panicked looks on their face. Allura was wearing a regal blue dress, a more mature twist on her blue dress she would were from time to time now, she looked exactly the same only much more older. She wore a beautiful crown on her head.

Keith wore a purple tunic accented with gold, his face still donning the scar on his right cheek, and his hair pulled into a low ponytail. He wore a crown on his head that matched Allura’s. Keith was holding her hand tightly and still held an air of confidence and authority even in his panicked state.

“Hello,” the alternate reality Keith spoke on the screen, “We are Emperor Keith and Empress Allura of Daibaltea, a planet from an alternate reality currently crumbling into nothingness.”

Keith and Allura felt a heavy weight on their stomach as they saw the scenery behind the two alternate versions of themselves vaporize into black.

“This is the work of an evil Altean alchemist, Honerva, who is supposedly looking for the perfect reality. She has supposedly been jumping from reality to reality, each one disappearing once she leaves it. She already left ours and brought an inevitable end,” Alternate Keith explained.

“We are sending our only hope,” Alternate Allura spoke up, “We are sending our children, Lukeia who is five deca-phoebs, Kallur who is three deca-phoebs, and Keilu who is six phoebs old, over to your reality. For them to escape. We still aren’t capable of transreality transportation and we could only send this one pod.”

Alternate Allura’s eyes teared up and she turned around, watching the black nothingness get closer and closer to her, “We don’t have much time,” she urged Keith.

“We beg you,” Alternate Keith pleaded, “Please take care of them like your own. If we survive this purge, I promise we’ll find some way to get them back. But we need to fight for our universe and we will stop at nothing to protect our kids.”

“Keith, Allura! We need to go now if we have a chance!” A voice similar to that of Lance’s cut the pleading short and Allura and Keith could see ships resembling bears flying around in the background, shooting a laser at a huge mecha.

“Please, take care of them!” Alternate Allura begged at the camera, a tear slipping down her cheek and she ran off, her “paladin” armor with an “m” instead of a “v” materializing on her form before she disappeared in the distance. Alternate Keith pressed a button, though it seemed to not perform correctly because the screen continued playing the message as he ran off to battle, his armor materializing on him as well.

Allura and Keith watched with surprise as five bears formed a huge mecha, one resembling Voltron but quite different, and they aimed a bow and arrow at the evil mecha. Their efforts were in vain and they were attacked, the quintessence literally sucked out of their mecha and they lost, the falling mecha falling into the raging fire beneath it. Soon enough black nothingness enveloped them.

The small girl, Lukeia they assumed, pressed a hand to the black screen and a single tear poured down her cheek and she whispered, “Mommy...Daddy…”

“Whoa,” Lance mumbled.

The pod was now full of silence in the mourning of the fallen universe. The baby, Keilu, in Keith’s arms rustled around in its blanket and his eyes opened, blue eyes and pink irises looking up at Keith. Eyes that were exactly like Allura’s.

“So what do we do now?” Hunk asked, picking up Lukeia in his arms and holding her as she cried, now having understood what happened to her real parents. Lance bounced Kallur in his arms, hoping that the small boy still wouldn’t understand the fate of his parents.

Keith turned around and looked at Allura questioningly. She placed an arm on his bicep and she nodded, “We will take care of them and avenge their parents. We will beat Honerva!”

Allura turned to look at Kallur and Lukeia and took them in her arms, both kids hugging her tight and her heart warmed at their affection. A small tear travelled down her cheek and she smiled, “And these will be our kids.”

Keith looked down at them from beside Allura, finding a smile forming on his own face and he nodded and cooed at the baby in his arms, “Yeah.”


	2. Childcare Mishaps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After unofficially adopting Lukeia, Kallur, and Keilu, the Paladins remember they still have an unconscious man waiting for them back with the Lions. Keith and Allura both get their first time taking care of the kids. What do you get when you ask two young adults to watch over two toddlers and one baby? Shenanigans and blushing.

After Allura nuzzled her head on the two kids in her arms, Kallur pulled away and looked around, a small frown on his face when he didn’t find what he was looking for. He turned to face Allura again and he pouted, “Unk Shiro?”

The Paladins all froze and a huge ball of dread fell on their stomachs. They forgot Shiro. Allura, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk turned to face Keith and their stoic, cool-headed leader had his jaw dropped.

“Oh  _ quiznak _ we forgot Shiro!”

* * *

 

They should have recorded their arrival to the rendezvous with Coran, Krolia, and Romelle. The kids immediately jumped crazy, Kallur jumping for Krolia and Lukeia jumping for Coran. Krolia picked up the child out of reflex and she blinked in surprise when Kallur called, “Gamma!”

Krolia froze over and blinked before asking with an edge in her voice, “I’m a grandmother and you  _ didn’t tell me _ ?”

Coran studied Lukeia carefully and then studied Kallur in Krolia’s hands and Keilu before glaring at Keith pointedly, “You better have a good reason for impregnating the Princess and hiding the heirs!”

Keith and Allura spluttered and Pidge and Hunk cackled from behind them, trying (and failing) to cover it with their mouths.

Romelle looked at the kids and blinked, then beamed at Keith, “Congratulations, Keith! I had no idea you were a father!”

Keith and Allura just fell into puddles of blabbers and nonsensical explanations, blushing so red that Pidge couldn’t help but take pictures of the two on her phone. When she had her fun, she pocketed her phone and explained, “Well, they’re here-”

“Because,” Kallur interrupted, facing Krolia with wide blue eyes, “Daibaltea was going  _ boom! _ And mommy and daddy didn’t want us to get hurt so they put us in the pod. Daibaltea was all orangey it was so cool! But then the pod went  _ flash! _ and-and then the pod turned off and then Unk Lance scared me so I threw my boomerang at him and-and then mommy and daddy got us and brought us here!” 

Kallur looked proud of his explanation, he should have been it was excellent narration. “Oh,” he suddenly yelled, “Daddy also shaved his beard.”

Coran looked at each other and they looked down at the kids in their arms, now realizing the situation. Krolia smiled at her son and put her hand on his shoulder, “We’ll help you every step of the way.”

Coran sighed, “As much as I’d like to catch up, Shiro is in grave condition.”

“Can you bring him to me?”

Coran rushed in the Black Lion and came out carrying Shiro in his arms. He laid him gently down on the floor and Allura stood beside him, studying his face. Kallur and Lukeia quickly sat at her side and watched their uncle with sadness, watching the adults tear up at the sight of Shiro in his state. Allura grabbed Keith’s hand in consolation and stood up and headed for the Black Lion.

She pressed her hand on the Black Lion’s mouth and suddenly she and the Black Lion glowed purple. Lukeia and Kallur both gasped in awe at the sight and, if we’re being honest, Keith almost did as well.

Allura kneeled before Shiro and pressed her fingers to his temples. Everyone watched mesmerized as Allura’s purple glow faded and transferred onto Shiro’s body. Kallur even tried to grab the purple glow and failed. Once the purple glow faded, they all waited anxiously, even Keilu was quiet and unmoving.

Suddenly, Shiro’s eyes opened wide, glowing, and he shot up. Quickly tipping over and onto Keith’s shoulder. Keith caught him swiftly and handed Keilu to Allura to give Shiro his undivided attention. Kallur and Lukeia switched sides to sit with Keith and they watched Shiro look up at Keith. Keith looked at Allura fondly and smiled gratefully, “Thank you.”

Between the two, Lukeia and Kallur watched, one with sparkles and one with disgust. Kallur pretended to gag and asked, “Are you going to kiss mommy, daddy?”

Keith spat out his metaphorical water and looked at “his” kid in surprise, “What? Why would I kiss her?”

Lukeia took the reins of the rest of the conversation, “Because you always look at her like that before you kiss her!”

“Lukeia, sweetie, what do you mean by how your daddy was looking at me?” Allura questioned the little girl, her bright indigo eyes that resembled her father’s gaining an extra sparkle.

“Because he looks at you all lovey dovey!”

Keith wanted to die.

Unbeknownst to the blushing nonexistent couple, Shiro was watching the whole exchange with so much confusion, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk had to fight to not laugh right then and there.

“How-When-” before Shiro could finish is sentence, he fell asleep again in Keith’s arms.

“It’s alright, Shiro just needs to rest to recover. But if he doesn’t recover fast, there is a chance he won’t make it.”

“Then we’re going to have to go find a yalmor to sniff out a valuable resource to help him recover.”

“We’ll go with you!” Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Romelle all stepped up towards Coran.

“Alright then, Allura and I will stay with the kids here,” Keith nodded.

“I’ll stay with you two,” Krolia offered, “I might haven’t been there for you, but other members in the Blades have joined since they were born. I’ve had my helping hand in raising many of them.”

Allura sent an appreciative smile towards her and she looked at the rest of the team, “Please get it as soon as you can, Shiro will not be able to last much longer.”

They watched the team leave to go find a yalmor and then Lukeia tugged on Keith’s hand, “What does impregnate mean?”

Keith and Allura widen their eyes at the question, half because of the struggle of having to explain it and half because of the act itself. Krolia merely laughed and picked Lukeia to sit up on her shoulders, which she squealed.

“Come on, we need to bring Shiro in to the Black Lion.”

Krolia bent over to pick Shiro up but Allura stopped her, “I’ll bring him in Krolia.”

Krolia nodded and took Keilu from her grasp. Keith approached Allura, “Are you sure you don’t want help?”

Allura waved him off, “This will be easy, Shiro is not that heavy. You take Kallur and follow your mother inside.”

Keith nodded in understanding and let Kallur jump on his shoulders as he walked back into the Black Lion. Kallur turned around and watched his mother carrying Shiro on her shoulders, “Is mommy carrying Unk Shiro because she’s not as strong as daddy?”

Keith chuckled, “She sure is.”

Allura grinned at the indirect compliment as she laid down Shiro into the pod in the Black Lion.

Suddenly, almost immediately after she put him down into the pod, Keilu started crying in Krolia’s arm. Both Keith and Allura ran to the child, concern etched in their faces.

“What’s wrong?!”

“Is he okay?!”

Krolia chuckled, “Don’t worry, he’s just hungry.”

Keith and Allura sighed in relief at the news. “Alright then, we just need to get him something to eat, right?” Keith asked the women.

Allura blushed and looked away and Krolia had the most disappointed look on her face, “I have failed you as a mother if you think a baby can just eat regular food.”

Keith blushed in embarrassment, “I didn’t think that! They can just...eat food goo, right?”

Krolia sighed in disappointment and looked up on her shoulders, “Come on, Lukeia, what do babies consume when they’re hungry?”

“They drink mommy’s milk!” Lukeia grinned proudly, excited that she got the answer and no noticing her parents refusal to look at the other in the eye.

“That’s right,” Krolia grinned, placing Lukeia on the floor for her to go join her brother wandering around the Black Lion. Krolia bounced the baby in her arms and she looked pointedly at Allura, “I’m sure Alteans don’t produce milk before they conceive and frankly, you are not in the right emotional state to even talk about milk, so I’m not even going to ask.”

Allura nodded in gratitude at the Galran mother and Krolia turned to her son, “We still have the cow the Blue and Green Paladins bought at the mall right?” Keith nodded. “Then I’m going to try to see if I can figure out how to milk the cow for the baby.”

Keilu was starting to get desperate and began clutching Krolia’s hair and she looked down at it fondly, “This little guy is going to have to stay with one of you.”

“I can go with you to get the milk,” Allura offered, “I watched Lance milk Kaltenecker before, I’m sure I can do it as well.”

Krolia nodded, “Then, Keith. You can stay with the kids and Allura, Keilu, and I will go on and milk the cow.”

Keith nodded, then his eyes widened when he heard a crash of bodies and loud giggles somewhere off in the distance. He blinked and jumped off his seat and towards the cockpit, “What are you two doing?”

Allura could hear two shrieks and the kids ran out into the room again, Lukeia and Kallur running to hide behind Allura’s legs. Lukeia was much too big to hide behind her anymore so most of her body was unprotected. Keith ran back inside looking slightly amused and slightly frustrated.

Allura giggled, “What happened?”

“Those two tried to sit on my chair and they fell off trying to reach the handles.” Lukeia and Kallur giggled and Allura was tempted to continue the whole issue, but duty called.

She patted the kid’s heads and she smile fondly at the two, once again being struck by how beautiful her children were. Well, “her” children. “I’ll be right back you two,” she assured, “But for now you’re going to have to face your father’s wrath alone!”

Allura dove for the door once Keith was close enough and he grabbed both of them once she made it out the door. She found that her smile was still on her face as she listened to the shrieks of the children and the grunts of Keith trying to calm them down.

“I didn’t know he was so good with kids,” she admitted.

Krolia, however, didn’t hear her and just got to business. She wasn’t even fazed by the baby trying to tear her hair off her head. “Let’s go to the cow.”

Allura nodded, “I think it’s in the Red Lion. I’m sure it’ll open up for us.”

* * *

 

“Daddy, I’m bored.”

“Daddy’s bored too.”

“Can we play Obstacle?”

“How do we play that again?”

“You throw your sword at me and I have to cancel it with my boomerang!”

“I don’t think your mother would approve.”

“Do you approve?”

“...that’s not the issue here.”

* * *

 

“It’s meeee. Alluraaaa. I’m Blue’s Paladin!”

“I don’t think it’ll work like that.”

“I’ve seen Keith do it before. It worked.”

“If my son told me the story accurately, he was also thrown out into space before the Lion responded.”

“...”

“No.”

“It’ll just take a tick!”

* * *

"Daddy, will you tell us how you met mommy?”

Keith froze at the question and blinked. He turned to Lukeia, who was using her big indigo eyes to warm his heart (it was working by the way), “Uh, what?”

“You never told us how you met mommy.”

“Did you ever ask?”

Lukeia looked to the side sheepishly, “Well, no…”

Keith, ever the softie for adorable things, smiled and gave in, “Okay, fine.”

Lukeia suddenly climbed into his lap, making Keith freeze momentarily before he got used to it. Lukeia looked pointedly at her younger brother and the little boy pouted angrily, something reminiscent of when he was a kid. “Come on, Kallur.”

“I don’t want to listen to a sappy love story,” Kallur crossed his arms.

Keith chuckled, “It’s not a bit romantic. All action and explosions.”

That got Kallur’s attention, “Really?”

Keith nodded, “I even got to punch some bad guys.”

Now it was Kallur’s turn to have sparkles in his eyes. He immediately got on the other side of Keith’s lap and both kids looked at their father expectantly.

“It all started when Shiro crash landed on Earth…”

* * *

 

“Is being in a tense situation the only moment someone can gain the trust of the Red Lion?”

Allura nodded, “Most likely.”

Allura led Kaltenecker near a rock and she sat on it so that she was face to face with her udder. Allura had to fight to not vomit right then and there. The baby crying the distance was the only thing that kept her going through with it.

Allura closed her eyes and let her hands do the work, opting to not look at the udder and the teats so she opted to watch Krolia handle Keilu. She handled the baby with such care, Allura was surprised to find such a soft side to such a strong and powerful woman, the same way she was surprised to see Keith be so good with kids.

“He looks just like Keith when he was a baby,” Krolia admitted.

Allura smiled, “Really?”

Krolia nodded, “He’s going to look just like his father. But he has your eyes.”

Allura nodded, “Yes, he does.”

It was quiet between the two women before Allura spoke up again, “It’s strange. These are not my children, but I can’t help but be so attached.”

“They technically would have been your children had it not been for a slight change in the past. It’s normal to feel like that towards a child. Especially when that child is so willing to call you their parent,” Krolia wore a solemn look, “Sometimes I wished I could have stayed to watch over Keith growing up. He deserved at least one parent there for him.”

Allura release Kaltenecker’s teats and she smiled, “But he has you now. Spending those two years with you in space really changed him for the better. He’s more confident now and much wiser.”

Krolia smiled, rocking the crying baby in her arms harder, “I’m just grateful I got to see him once more.”

Allura smiled and returned to milking the cow, attempting to milk the last drops of the front two teats. However, she squeezed too hard. Kaltenecker mooed and kicked her leg. Thankfully, Allura was not in its line of fire. Unfortunately, the bucket was.

Allura was doused in Kaltenecker’s milk and Krolia, for the first time since she’s met her, laughed.

* * *

 

Keith, the poor man, was so exhausted from the continuous battles against Shiro and Lotor, he fell asleep as he was finishing the story. Lukeia and Kallur, being the angels they were, decided to not wake up their father and slid off his lap silently. They both walked out of the room quietly and they froze when they saw Kosmo on the other side of the door laying down. The cosmic wolf lifted his head to look at the two intruders and flicked his ear to and fro.

“Whoa!” Kallur whispered, “This dog is so cool!”

Lukeia pet his fur and she giggled, “He is so fluffy!”

Kosmo let himself be pet and he took a sniff of both kids, being content when he recognized Keith’s scent on them and assumed they were okay little humans. Suddenly both tackled Kosmo in a warm hug and Kosmo teleported them to Allura.

Both kids giggled once Kosmo landed on the ground in front of Allura, who was on the way to the Black Lion carrying the newly acquired milk with Krolia. Allura blinked, “What are you two doing here?”

Lukeia laughed and hugged the wolf, “Daddy’s dog brought us here!”

Allura was even more confused. Suddenly, the Black Lion’s hatch opened and Keith came out sprinting and yelling, “Lukeia! Kallur!”

“We’re right here daddy!” Kallur responded.

Keith turned to watch all of them approaching him and he sighed in relief, “Oh thank God.”

Allura handed him the bucket, no longer willing to carry the horrible abomination, and she chastised him, “Did you lose the kids?”

“I…” Keith sighed, “I didn’t mean to! They just...disappeared with the wolf!”

Allura crossed her arms and Keith evaded her disappointed look, “I’m sorry.”

“Uh-huh.”

Keith and Allura walked in and Krolia took the milk to prepare multiple bottles of milk with spare containers in the Lion, the kids followed her. Allura and Keith stood watch over Shiro and Keith placed a hand on the capsule, “I can’t lose him.”

“You won’t,” Allura assured, “Coran and the rest of the team will come soon and he’ll be alright.”

“His heart rate is dropping with every second, Princess.”

“We need to have hope, Keith.”

“Can you do anything?”

Allura dropped her gaze down to the ground, “No, with the fight against Lotor and transferring Shiro’s psyche into the clone’s body, my quintessence levels are still recovering.”

“I have quintessence!” Both Keith and Allura turn around and see Lukeia bouncing towards them, placing her hand on Shiro’s capsule and the whole thing started glowing teal.

“Lukeia be careful!” Allura pleaded grabbing hold of Lukeia, but the child never stopped. She didn’t until the capsule popped open and Shiro blinked awake.

Lukeia beamed proudly as Keith hugged Shiro tightly. Allura’s eyes were wide as she watched her child bounce around and the room and start to play with Shiro. This girl, she thought, was powerful.

Shiro was letting the little girl with Allura’s hair and Keith’s eyes talk to him to her heart’s content, but he’s still not sure why a random child is with them. Suddenly, Kallur ran out of the kitchen and jumped into Keith’s arms, “Daddy! Gamma said I that Lukeia and I are a perfect mix of you and mommy. Is that true?”

Suddenly the door opened and in came the rest of the team, announcing their return with Lance yelling, “Hey, Shiro’s awake!”

Lukeia immediately ran to be carried by Hunk and Shiro just sat there dazed, “How long was I out?”


	3. A Road Trip to Remember

Letting Lance decide the road trip accommodations was a  _ mistake _ . Luckily, Allura didn’t have such bad company. She did get Keith’s beast in her lion but he has become quite attached to the kids and was busy playing with them and letting them pet him. At the thought of the cosmic wolf, she heard Kallur shriek in excitement and she turned in her seat.

Kallur was sat on the wolf’s back and rolling around in its fur. Lukeia was tying pigtails on its head with ribbons. Allura paused, wondering where the child got the ribbons from but she decided to think about it later. In her arms, baby Keilu was babbling nonsense and he laughed when his mommy looked down at him. 

She was glad she wasn’t stuck with Coran at the moment, he was much too excited and was singing the Altean alphabet nursery song. She chuckled and knew that he was probably getting on Keith’s nerves. She knew she was right when Keith pulled up a communications line with her.

“Allura, could you please take Coran?” Keith all but pleaded. 

Allura tried to fight a smile on her lips and she tried to reason with him. “Keith, I’m sorry but I’m currently carrying the children and your wolf. It’s quite crowded in here already since the kids brought the beast in the cockpit.”

Keith narrowed his eyes, “He’s not a beast, he’s a cosmic wolf. Then since Black is the biggest lion, I’ll take the kids.”

“No!” Behind them, the kids ran to the screen and pressed their faces against it, “We want to stay with mommy and Kosmo!”

Keith blinked, “Kosmo?”

Hunk suddenly burst into their conversation, “That’s just what I was thinking!”

Allura smiled at Lukeia and Kallur, “I think Kosmo’s a wonderful name.”

“We’re not naming the wolf Kosmo.”

The kids pouted and looked up at Keith with their big eyes, “Please, daddy?”

Allura had to press a hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter once she saw Keith’s resolve crack. Hunk opened a communications line as well and interlaced his fingers together, jutted his lips out, and batted his eyes exaggeratedly, “Yeah, please, Keith?”

Keith sent Hunk a glare, successfully scaring the latter into stopping his act, and he sighed. He took one last look at the kids and he fell into their pleading eyes and agreed, “Fine, his name is Kosmo.”

“Yay!” The kids ran back to the wolf and hugged him. Kosmo returned it by nuzzling his head on their shoulders.

“What did you touch?!” Allura blinked in surprise, hearing Lance yell in annoyance, “Guys, I think I did a bad job choosing the passengers.”

At that precise moment, Coran’s singing became more obnoxious and Allura struggled to keep her laughter at bay once she saw Keith, Krolia, and Shiro plugging their ears with their fingers. At her sides, Kallur and Lukeia began singing along and Keilu tried to clap along.

“Exus, plexis, ceedus, flee, jaydus, nacto, pledum, ree. Joodum, ruu, and leeum too. That puts us just halfway through!”

“That’s it! We’re switching passengers,” Keith’s annoyance proved louder than the absolute chaos in the lions and everyone agreed with a loud “Yes!”

“Hey,” Hunk added, “Why haven’t we heard from Pidge?”

“Yeah!” Lance commented, “Wait, who’s in her lion again?”

“I don’t know,” Keith, still obviously annoyed, sassed, “You’re the one who came up with this grouping.”

“Well, she must have--no, they’re with Keith. I have the mice. Allura has the wolf…”

“Is she all alone?!” Allura asked, grabbing the attention of the two other toddlers in the lion.

The four paladins gaped in disbelief and growled. Kosmo immediately got to work.

“Oh, come on guys this is so not fair!” Pidge’s cries fell upon deaf ears as the Paladins flew in peace for the first time since they started and Pidge got the treatment she deserved.

“Mommy?” Lukeia asked from behind her mother’s pilot seat.

“Yes, my little juniberry?”

“Where are we going?”

“To Earth. That’s where your father, Lance, Hunk, Shiro, and Pidge are from.”

“I thought dad was from Daibaltea?”

“Well, he’s half Galran. His other half is human and their home planet is Earth.”

“Ohhhh.”

“Are we there yet?” Allura turned around to see her son throwing his boomerang up and down, surprisingly catching the weapon perfectly.

“No, I’m afraid not,” Allura chuckled.

Just then, Keilu started crying and Allura rushed to cradle the baby in her arms, bouncing him in her arms, humming an Altean lullaby. Keilu didn’t stop, though, and continued crying with no signs of stopping. She tried everything: rubbing his back, playing with his hair, humming lullabies and walking around the lion while rocking him back and forth.

Allura sighed, silently thankful that the kids were off entertaining themselves, and she opened a communications with Keith. He immediately answered and concern etched his face when he saw Keilu crying and softly asked, “What’s wrong, little guy?”

“He’s been crying for half an hour and he won’t stop. I was hoping he would calm down by seeing you, but he didn’t,” Allura sighed, tears starting to surface, “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I never knew taking care of a child was so hard.”

“Don’t worry. There is a chance that he is hungry again,” Krolia offered.

“Are you sure?”

“When Keith was six months old, I had to feed him every two to three hours. Keilu is probably pretty hungry right now.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Allura sighed in relief. Suddenly, she had a face of regret on her face immediately, “I spilled so much milk last time, I don’t have any extra.”

“You spilled milk?”

“That’s not the issue at hand, Keith. The issue is that our son is hungry and I have no more milk for the baby.”

“How about we just ask Lance to milk Kaltenecker?”

“Oh, thank the ancients. I don’t want to milk that cow again,” with that final comment, Allura opened another communications line with Lance and shushed her baby boy as he showed up on the screen. The Latino had a bright smile on his face when he saw her on the screen but it quickly changed when he saw Keilu crying in her arms.

“Aww, what’s wrong with Keilu?”

“He’s hungry and I don’t have any milk with me at the moment. I was hoping you could bring some of Kaltenecker’s milk for him…”

“Yeah, I’m sure I can put red on autopilot for a few minutes to milk her out for the little bugger.”

“Thank you so much, Lance.”

“No problem. Also, six month year old babies can also eat other foods. Like yogurt and mushy foods. I don’t know how it is with Galrans or Alteans though.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you again, Lance.”

With a salute, Lance cut the call and Allura started one with Hunk.

“Hey, Princess. Whoa, what’s wrong with Keilu?”

“The poor child is hungry. I already asked Lance to bring some of Kaltenecker’s milk, but he also said that human babies can also eat some mushy foods. Do you think you can prepare something in advance for when he’s hungry again?”

“It’ll be the best mushy food that baby has tasted!”

“Thank you, Hunk.”

“Don’t sweat it, Princess. He’s also my nephew.”

Allura smiled, shutting down the communication line and the only sound in the Lion was Keilu’s wails. She rocked him back and forth and looked down at the crying baby, aweing at the baby’s adorable face. She understood what Krolia meant when she said that Keilu reminded her of Keith. He was a literal mini-Keith. He had Keith’s black hair, he had his sharp purple eyes and, heck, he even had Keith’s mullet. 

The child in her arms was beautiful. He looked so much like Keith, yet he still had something of hers. Keilu was most definitely her child even though he wasn’t hers. She should feel guilty, caring for another’s children as her own. She should find a way to get them back to their own reality. But at the team’s current status, she can’t. And she’s not sure she wants to.

Ever since she’s woken up from her slumber, she has longed to be with her family, to have someone to return to once this is all over, to have a home again. Although these kids aren't hers, she will fight to return just to hear them call her mommy once more.

She has always dreamt of being a mother since she was a child. She dreamt of having a handsome Altean by her side and cradling a beautiful baby in her arms. Never would she have imagined that she would take in the children of her alternate self. She didn't mind, though.

She had a handsome Human by her side and she's still cradling a beautiful baby in her arms. Though said baby does have ugly human ears. And although the handsome Human was also dragged into this responsibility by fate, she's sure he will be an amazing father to these children.

“Cow milk heading your way via cosmic wolf, Allura,” Lance's voice interrupted her thoughts and she stood up on her seat to meet up with the wolf, who materialized in a burst of blue sparks before her.

“Thanks again, Lance,” She knelt down and patted his fur, “Thank you, Kosmo. You are not a beast at all.”

Kosmo nuzzled his head against Allura's hand and let her pick up the bag on his back full of bottles of milk for Keilu. Once the bag was taken off, Kosmo left and Allura headed for the small room behind the cockpit to pour the milk into a baby bottle Pidge managed to make from spare parts she kept around for Keilu to drink the milk.

Finally, Keilu's cries stopped and his cries were replaced with sounds of his suckling on the baby bottle. Allura sighed in relief now that Keilu finally stopped and she sat back down in her pilot seat, just in time to see Keith appear in a screen in front of her.

“Hey, Princess.”

“Hello, Keith.”

“Lance managed to milk Kaltenecker some more?”

Allura nodded, removing her hand from the bottle now that Keilu got a firm grip on it and moved her banhs off her face, “Yes, I now have three bottles left for him and Hunk is making some mushy food for him for later.”

“That's great. I was wondering if you'd like for me to take the kids after the next stop.”

“That won't be necessary, the kids are not a bother at all. They're actually really quiet now that I think about it.”

“No, that's not- Uh, well, you deserve a break, but I was thinking more along the lines of me wanting to hang out with them more.”

Allura blinked. She certainly did not expect that. Keith is the least social one of the five of them and he treasures his alone time. “Are you sure? Sometimes they  _ can _ be overbearing.”

“Yeah,” Keith reassured, “If I'm going to be their father. I should get to know them better.”

Allura smiled softly, greatly appreciating this side of Keith, “Of course you can.”

“Thank you, Prin-”

Suddenly, a loud crash from down below interrupted their conversation and Allura shook in her seat and Keilu almost dropped his milk.

“What was that?” Keith asked.

“I don't know,” Allura admitted, checking Blue's status.

“Where are the kids?”

“Well, they're right behind me…” Allura's sentence faded as she turned around and noticed that the kids were no longer playing with Kallur's boomerang. 

“I've got to go!” Allura jumped off her seat and turned off the video call with Keith. She bolted for the door and headed for the Blue Lion's hatch. The door slid open and she saw her two children laying on the ground in a heap of laughter, both of them completely covered in dust. In between them both, there was an empty tank with a dent on its side.

“What do you two think you're doing?!”

Both kids froze and looked up at their mother with a guilty look in their eyes and immediately stood up, looking down at the floor in shame. Lukeia interlaced her fingers behind her back, Kallur following her lead, and both looked up at her with the same look they would look at their father with.

“We were playing “Dodge the Boomerang” and Kallur hit that big thing and it tipped over. We both tried to stop it but it still fell and dust was everywhere.”

Kallur looked up and jutted his lip out, “I'm sorry, mommy.”

Allura cocked a hand on her hip and sighed, taking out the phone Pidge made for her and took a picture of the two, allowing herself to laugh a bit as she sent it to Keith.

The kids started laughing as well, but Allura immediately frowned, “Don't think you two are off the hook so easily. You scared your father and I when we heard that explosion.”

“We're sorry.”

“Now go shower you two. You're completely covered in dust.”

“Okay.”

As Allura waited for the two, hearing Lukeia sing an Altean nursery rhyme and Kallur singing along from outside while waiting for his turn, she caught a whiff of a putrid smell. She looked at the bathroom, but realized it couldn't be the bathroom since Lukeia was only taking a shower. It wasn't Kallur because she would have heard it and he is too old to soil his pants. That left only one other option.

Allura winced as she thought of the horrors and prayed to the ancients that it wasn't what she thought it was. She lifted the back of Keilu's diaper to check and she immediately closed it as the brunt of the stench smacked her face full force.

“Ewww,” Kallur yelled, “Keilu pooped himself!”

Allura struggled to keep her lunch down and she grabbed some emergency cloth and laid Keilu down on a table. The baby even had the nerve to laugh at her misery. With a huff, Allura pinched her nose, Kallur following her example covering his nose as well, and she opened Keilu's diaper.

After that was done, Allura sat back down in the pilot seat and let Lukeia and Kallur, both now clean after their showers, play with Keilu for a while. Keith’s voice suddenly came up in the comms, “Team we’re going to make a quick stop. Everyone follow me.”

Allura followed the Black Lion into an asteroid belt and towards what seems to be an abandoned station. They landed the Lions right outside the entrance and Allura got up from her pilot seat, not fazing when Kosmo teleported Romelle to watch the kids as the stopped there, making a mental note to ask if they had any spare cloth they could offer for Keilu’s diapers.

She put on her helmet and went down the Lion’s jaw, slowly descending with her jetpack to follow Krolia into the base. After a few minutes of no response, Allura opted to forcefully open the door with her muscle, letting everyone through as she held it open. Inside, the station was completely destroyed and barren, only scraps of metal dangling in odd angles were left behind.

Allura looked around, the conversation falling into the background as she studied the station’s remains, poking buttons here and there to see if the system will reboot. Suddenly a blast shook the ground and stalactites fell from the ceiling and onto the floor at their feet.

“Enemy ship incoming!” Coran warned a little too late.

“Everyone, back to the Lions!” Keith ordered and flew towards the exit, showing them the way. Allura followed close behind, hoping that the Blue Lion wouldn’t be targeted for the children’s sake.

Allura rushed inside the Lion’s cockpit and warned Romelle and the children, “We’re in for a wild ride. Hold on to something.”

Kallur and Lukeia grabbed onto the pilot seat and blinked at the monitor, watching as stars whizzed by and as the Blue Lion dodged lasers. “It looks like a small fleet. Mostly Gara fighters.”

“That’s good. We should be able to take them out pretty easily.”

Allura narrowly dodged a beam and she heard Pidge grunt through the comms, “But remember, we’re not flying at full power.”

“Pidge is right. Everyone stay sharp.”

Allura made flips and turns, expertly evading all the attacks and kept the Black Lion in sight. 

“Mom…” Kallur whimpered, worry evident in his voice as he stumbled on his feet with each flip the Lion made.

“Just hold on there, Kallur. We’ll make it out of this in no time.”

Romelle leaned in to Allura, Keilu obliviously playing with her blonde hair, and she commented, “Some of these ships look like they belong to Lotor’s fleet.”

Allura grunted as she moved away from a group of fighters, watching as the Black Lion freed Hunk from two ships that looked exactly like Lotor’s.

“Go dad!” Kallur exclaimed from behind her, grunting as he punched an invisible enemy.

“We need to form Voltron!’” Lance urged.

“Allright team, in formation!”

Allura flew into her spot beside the Red Lion and flew up, searching for the familiar feeling she always had when she had to form Voltron with the team. However, it lacked a certain umph from the Lion’s power and they merely continued flying upwards.

“It’s not working!” Lance cried out.

“Hold!” Keith ordered, his voice now seeming tired as they desperately tried to form the huge robot.

Allura grimaced, sensing the Lions’ fatigue and the lack of energy and quintessence they need, “The lions can’t take much more of this.”

Keith grunted, feeling the same weight on his shoulders and he yelled, “Abort!”

The five lions separated and flew about in different directions struggling to escape the wrath of the fighters. Suddenly, Allura’s lion was hit by an incredible force and a blazing orange blinded her, the Blue Lion flying backwards and being hit by more explosions. Kallur, Lukeia, and Romelle struggled to hold onto her pilot seat as she flew about. She grunted and thrust her hand forward and the Blue Lion propelled forward, trying to run away from the barrage of hits.

“What was that?”

“Xanthorium crystals. They’ve been cloaked,” Coran advised.

Allura whizzed past Keith, who was hit by a cluster of the crystal and he immediately flipped the Black Lion out of the way of a string of explosions, stopping right as the Lion was upright again and continued on his way. She could hear the kids awe in wonder as their father expertly sliced through fighters with the Black Lion’s claws and Allura did her best to make the ride as smooth as possible.

Allura grunted, feeling as the Blue Lion got hit by more beams and she followed Keith as he flew towards a green cyclone in front of them, “We have no choice. Everyone into the cyclone. Hunk, that means you and I have to punch a hole through the storm and create a path for the team. You ready?”

Allura grunted against the harsh conditions of the cyclone, hearing Kallur and Lukeia at the Lion’s monitors ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the sights. She pulled down the lever controls of the Lion and dove down to the ice-planet Pidge found for the team to hide in and stayed in formation as the fighters followed closely behind.

“A cave,” Keith pointed out, “That gives me an idea. Lance, bring up the rear. When neveryone’s through the tunnel fire above the cave opening. Red should be fast enough to get in before the avalanche completely blocks the way.”

“Roger that, team leader.”

Allura slipped past through the opening and grunted as rocks fell in closely behind her, seeing Lance whiz past her after he shot through the opening. Behind her, lasers were still aiming for them and she groaned, “They’re still following us!”

“Split up. We need to thin our attackers.”

Allura took the right tunnel along with Hunk, watching Lance, Pidge, and Keith disappear through the left tunnel. She watched a fighter jet fly in front of her and Allura roared, opening Blue’s jaw and snapping the fighter jet in half.

“Yeah, mom!” Kallur yelled thrusting his fist up in the air. 

Lukeia jumped up in excitement, “Mom’s awesome!”

Allura smiled but her pride was cut short when an alarm sounded. She clicked on the screen and a surveillance camera feed opened and showed her the fighter pilot escaping the jet’s destruction and roaming around Blue’s jaw.

Romelle frowned and yelled, “What are you waiting for, shoot him!”

“I can’t. The jaws are stuck.”

Lukeia and Keiu lit up and immediately ran out of the cockpit, yelling a curt, “We’ll take care of him!” before running off into the hatch.

“No!” Allura yelled, “Romelle give me Keilu and get the kids out of there before they get hurt!”

Romelle put Keilu down gently into Allura’s lap and she yelled, “On it!” before the door slid closed behind her. She ran down to the hatch, hoping that the kids weren’t hurt before she heard two loud, childish grunts and a Galran grunt. She ran faster and stopped right in front of the scene before her. 

Lukeia and Kallur both had their fists out and the Galran enemy was knocked out on the fighter jet. Romelle ran up towards the kids and she tugged on their shoulders, “You two scared your mother into the next deca-phoeb. Go back to the cockpit, I’ll handle it from here.”

“Okay!” Both kids ran back up to the cockpit and Romelle jumped from the ledge and nudged a scrap of metal out of Blue’s jaws before she yelled, “Allura! Open the mouth!”

Once the job was done and the fighter jet was no longer bothering them, Romelle joined Allura in the cockpit to hear the kids animatedly explain to their mother how they beat up the Galran with a single punch.

“So he came close and said, ‘These are mere children!’” Romelle laughed at Kallur’s accurate imitation and Lukeia continued on, “So he walked up close and tried to push Kallur and I out of the way, but then Kallur threw his boomerang and missed on purpose to confuse the bad guy and when he started to brag about us not being a match for him, the boomerang hit the back of his head and Kallur and I knocked him out with a punch!”

Allura laughed at her children’s excitement and soon heard Keith in the comms, “Is everyone alright?”

“Clear.”

“Me too,” Allura added, smiling down at the proud kids, “Thanks to the kids and Romelle.”

“The kids?” Keith questioned, obvious confusion in his tone by the odd revelation.

“Help now, explanations later. Pidge and I are still under heavy fire!”

Allura saw a light at the end of the tunnel and flew towards it, soon hearing Lance come back to the comms asking, “Uh, what just happened?”

“I think the wolf just saved us.”

“Kosmo!” the kids cheered from behind her.

Allura chuckled, soon seeing the Black Lion fly in front of her and the kids cheered louder, ““Daddy!

“Alright, we made it team,” Keith announced proudly once all five lions left the caves.

However that didn’t seem to be the case once the lions were all caught in a bright beam of light, pushing them down into the ground and rendering them immobile. The kids screamed in surprise and Allura grunted, trying to make Blue move to get out of the beam, but it was no use. She looked up and her eyes widened as she saw a Galra ship right on top of them, hordes of fighter jets flying down towards them.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof I haven't updated in forever! … Sorry. There's more information in the End Notes so please make sure to read them!

“These people are buttholes.”

The team’s eyes widened and they all warned, “Kallur!”

The boy in question pouted and crossed his arms and turned away from their reprimanding eyes and just stared at his father’s white armor. Keith kneeled down and looked into his son’s blue eyes sternly, “Even though people may be mean, we don’t call them names.  _ Especially _ something as vulgar as that.”

“Well,” Lance started, everyone turning to look at him as he leaned against a wall, “He isn’t wrong.”

Keith glared at the Red Paladin, eyeing Kallur’s admiration for his uncle’s defense, and he warned, “Don’t encourage him, Lance. He shouldn’t be using such strong words. He’s just three.”

Lance shrugged and winked at Kallur before turning away from Keith and continuing his failing attempts to free them. Allura, from her spot beside Lukeia playing with Keilu, agreed with Keith, “You are right, Keith. “Buttholes” is much too vulgar for you, Kallur.”

Kallur pouted, but this time he seemed more guilty now that his mom was chastising him and Keith looked at her with a look of gratitude. At least, until she spoke again.

“We call these kinds of people little quiznakers.”

Keith’s jaw dropped, Shiro facepalmed, Pidge struggled to keep her laugh hidden, and the rest looked surprise, yet they all gasped, “Allura!”

Just then the prison door slid open and they all fell quiet as two familiar figures stepped inside. Keith furrowed his brows in recognition and asked, “Zethrid? Ezor?”

The two women didn’t even look in his direction. The first thing they looked at were at the kids standing in between Allura and Keith. Zethrid chuckled and stood in front of the kids. 

Lukeia cocked her head in curiosity and asked Ezor, “Why is your hair a tail?”

Ezor laughed and took a step closer to the little girl but Lukeia leaned closer into her mother’s thigh, and she quickly grabbed her baby brother into her arms as well. Kallur, however, merely stood still and threw his head back trying to see Zethrid’s head. When he almost stumbled backwards he mumbled, “You’re too big to be a little quiznaker.”

Allura and Keith just about died.

Zethrid and Ezor merely chuckled and Ezor crossed her arms and cocked an amused eyebrow towards Keith and Allura, “You two sure got busy. Acxa’ll be disappointed to hear the emo one is taken.”

Keith and Allura merely stayed quiet but Keith took a step closer to the two, hoping to be able to move before they do anything to his kid.

Ezor bends down and smiles at Kallur, who just looks at her owlishly, and asks, “Hey buddy, have you seen Prince Lotor recently?”

Kallur scrunched his face, “Who’s Price Motor?”

Ezor glares at Lance once he starts laughing behind Kallur. Kallur smiles at hearing his uncle laugh and Ezor sighs, “No. Prince  _ Lotor _ . You know, big and tall with light purple skin, white hair, and ears like yours? You’ve never seen him?”

Kallur shakes his head, “I don’t know who Lotor is.”

Zethrid scoffs and bares her teeth at the team, “He’s lying.”

Allura glares at her and takes a step closer, “My son is no liar. He has never seen Lotor. We left him in the quintessence field between realities. He’s dead.”

“That doesn’t add up. Why aren’t you dead?”

“No,” Allura replied sternly, “Lotor went on a rampage and he was knocked unconscious. He’s dead.”

Zethrid pounded on the walls with her fist and spat, “Lies.”

Kallur looked up at the threatening woman with wide, fearful eyes and Zethrid picked up the child from his collar and lifted him up into the air.

There was a chorus of ‘No!’s ringing through the air and Keith threw himself at the pair to get his son away from them, but Ezor expertly kicked him in the abdomen, successfully throwing him across the room and on top of the team, disabling them for a second as Zethrid glared at the kid in her hand and asked, “Where is Prince Lotor?”

The child kicked in her arms, though it did nothing, and yelled, “I don’t know who that is!”

Lukeia, crouching over her baby brother, had wide eyes as she looked at her family groaning on the floor in pain and her little brother in danger. 

Zethrid step closer to her family threateningly and she ran in between the tall woman and her family and screamed, “Get back!”

Zethrid stopped midstep and looks down at the child in front of her and chuckles wryly, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Keith, trying to free himself from the pile of people, screamed, “Lukeia get away from them.”

Zethrid sneers, “You should listen to your parents, kid. You might just get hurt.”

Ezor took a step closer to Lukeia, but Lukeia’s hand suddenly began glowing a bright aqua blue and she held her hand up in between her and the enemy. The two women stepped back in surprise and the team watched the little girl in awe. Lukeia glared and she demanded, “Put Kallur down!”

Allura and Keith were finally free and they both ran towards Lukeia. Both were forced to stand a few feet away from the intense brightness of Lukeia’s power, but they were able to make out Zethrid letting Kallur down gently on the floor. Kallur immediately ran away and ran behind Keith’s leg and peered at the scene unfolding. Lukeia started glowing brightly all over, her blue altean marks glowed as her mother’s had when they were near Oriande and her purple irises turned a ghostly blue.

“Lukeia, stop! You can hurt yourself and us if you attack!”

Lukeia, however, didn’t stop glowing, “Ummm… I can’t?”

Keith took a step closer and yelled, “Just relax!”

“I can’t relax if you’re yelling at me, dad!”

“Lukeia, you do not speak to your father with that attitude!”

“Are we really doing this now?” Lance questioned as he lifted Pidge up from under Hunk in the pile, “We’re all going to die!”

Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the ground and a loud alarm sounded throughout the room and the rest of the ship. The whole group froze and Ezor and Zethrid looked towards their men behind them, all of them running out of the room and towards the offense.

_ “Hull breach in hangar one. Lockdown sequence initiated.” _ The monotone voice of the speakers filled in the confusion inside the room and Ezor and Zethrid bolted for the door and locked it, leaving the team trapped inside with Lukeia’s glowing hand...quintessence...weapon continuing to glow.

“Lukeia, sweetheart, I need you to relax your hand,” Allura urged, speaking to the spooked child with a soothing voice.

Lukeia took a deep breath and relaxed her hand and let the quintessence go. The force of the blast threw her backwards and her father caught her in his arms. The team looked at the door and gaped at the huge hole steaming from it, seeing a row of holes in the walls in front of the door.

Allura and Keith looked down at their daughter and smiled and Allura passed a hand through Lukeia’s silver hair, “Thank you, my little juniberry.”

“Allura,” Krolia interrupted, who was rocking baby Keilu in her arms and trying to calm him down. Allura looked up at the older woman and saw her pointing at the ground in front of the steaming door.

There, fazed and shivering in fear, were the mice. Allura chuckled as they all ran towards her and onto her shoulders, “It’s alright. We’re fine.”

The mice then began squeaking and squeaking, the team peering over Allura’s shoulder and still wondering how she can understand them.

“Where?”

“What are they saying mommy?” Kallur asked, the child holding the tiniest mice in his hand and petting him.

“Coran’s trying to save us and he’s got help. Acxa.”

His face turned soft and whispered a soft ‘what?’ and Allura felt a weight on her stomach, though she didn’t know why. “Come on,” Keith began, taking Lukeia into his arms and leading the group, “We’ve gotta get out of here and into our lions.” Quickly, the paladins started running towards the hangar, running into Coran and knocking out the Galra cornering him and returning to their jog.

Nearby, they heard pair of Galra messing around with their Bayards and they hid behind some walls.

“Great,” Lance whispered, “They’ve got our Bayards. What are going to do?”

Suddenly, Kallur jumped out and took out his Bayard and yelled, “Let me at ‘em!”

Lance and Pidge quickly grabbed Kallur and hid him behind the wall again, Lance’s hand muffling the little boy’s mouth and Pidge sighed in exasperation, “There goes the element of surprise.”

Then, Keith’s bayard was in his hand in a flash, surprising the team, and he jumped at the two guards, defeating them in exactly five seconds. Kallur peered over the wall and his eyes sparkled with admiration and gasped, “Dad’s  _ so cool! _ ”

Keith slipped on his helmet and turned towards the team with orders, “Lance, lead the way. Keep the team together.”

The team rushed to get their equipment and to get moving and Lance stopped Keith for a second, “Wait, where are you going?”

“Acxa saved our skin. I’m not going to leave her behind.”

Allura turned around to watch Keith leave and smiled fondly when she saw Keith ruffled Kallur’s head as he left the team to go help Acxa. Kallur looked at his mom next, and rose a confused eyebrow when he saw her watching his dad walking off and he tugged on her hand, “Mom you’re looking at dad all lovey-dovey again.”

Allura shook out of her daydreaming and she looked  _ mortified _ as she saw the team smiling at her knowingly. She backed up in surprise, “N-No! I’m not!”

“Alright, kiddo,” Krolia plopped a helmet Kallur’s head, saving Allura from his oblivious teasing, “We need to get you suited up.”

As Krolia dressed Kallur, Allura dressed Lukeia, who was still unconscious, and Shiro, Romelle, and Coran struggled to find a way to fit baby Keilu in a tiny suit and helmet they found in one of the crates.

“Let’s get to the Lions,” Lance ordered as Keith’s right-hand and began moving towards the hangar.

Kallur beamed and rose his right hand, “I call dibs on riding with dad!”

Allura looked up at Shiro, who was running beside her, and asked, “Would you take him with you?”

Shiro lifted Kallur up on top of his shoulders and smiled reassuringly, “I’ve got him.”

Kallur laughed and rose up his hands in excitement, “Yay! Uncle Shiro!”

Lance ran up to the controls beside the hatch of the hangar and pulled down a lever, the door immediately opening and the team was sucked out of the ship and into space. Kallur was laughing and enjoying the ride with his uncle, gazing up at the sky and the red nebula nearby.

Behind the team, a group of Galrans ganged up together and began firing on them, Shiro having to swerve out of the way to avoid getting hit and Kallur whooped and cheered him on. The Black Lion was kind enough to open its jaws and let them in but it would not power up and it waited for Keith to return. 

Allura entered her lion once she made sure her son was safe inside and she gently laid Lukeia on the pod inside her Lion. Romelle braced herself against Allura’s chair and held onto baby Keilu tightly as Allura powered up the Blue Lion.

“Guys!” Keith’s voice sounded through their helmet, “Zero in on my location and fire on the ship!”

Allura’s eyes widened and reluctantly prepared the Blue Lion to fire, “Are you sure?”

“Just do it!”

Allura took a deep breath and prayed to the ancients that Keith wasn’t pulling anything stupid in the ship and did as she was told, seeing the rest of the lions fire on Keith’s location as well and she hoped for the best. 

Her eyes widened in worry when she saw an intense explosion erupt and multiple explosions throughout the ship followed after. The Black Lion rushed towards the ship and a wave of relief overtook her once she saw Keith fly through a thick black smoke. However, once she saw him holding Acxa’s hand, another feeling overwhelmed her and she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t jealousy. Once Keith was inside the Black Lion, it turned around and left the ship to destroy itself, the rest of the lions following close behind.

When Keith walked into the cockpit, he was bombarded by a little tornado and almost fell backwards when Kallur jumped into his arms.

“You were so awesome dad! I want to be just like you when I grow up!” Keith chuckled at the little kid in his arms and smiled softly.

“Thanks, buddy. I’ll teach some moves when we arrive on Earth, alright?”

“Yay!” Kallur punched his fist in the air and something caught his eye. He turned around and saw Acxa behind his father and he asked her, “Who are you?”

“Acxa,” the woman replied curtly and Keith noticed her gaze kept shifting between him and Kallur in his arms before she asked Keith, “Is this your son?”

“Yep!” Kallur answered proudly and he beamed.

Keith wanted to say the truth so that Acxa wouldn’t be confused, but it wasn’t the right moment. Kallur didn’t need to know the truth yet. Not when he already lost his universe. Keith put Kallur down and headed for the pilot seat sending a curt, ‘thank you’ to Acxa before sitting down and taking the controls.

“You can send your team these coordinates. That’s my hideout for now. You can rest up there,” Acxa sent coordinates on over to Keith, who later passed it on to his Lion to send it to the team and offered her another ‘thank you’ before making plans with the team.

Acxa stood behind in a corner, seeing that Kallur wouldn’t stop looking at her but she didn’t really know what to say to him so she stayed quiet. Right up until Kallur decided to say what he thought.

“You’re pretty.”

Acxa’s eyes widened at the compliment and she looked down at the kid in shock. He had a completely innocent face gazing up at her. “Uh, thank...you?”

She looked over at Keith, hoping he would save her from the awkward conversation with his child. But, alas, that was not the case.

“Have you met my brother and sister? They’re with mommy now.”

“No. I haven’t.”

“That’s okay. I’ll introduce you to them when we see them again. My older sister’s name is Lukeia, she’s bossy and cool and looks just like mommy. My little brother’s Keilu. He’s just a baby so he just cries a lot. Oh! And he uses the bathroom a lot too. Gamma said he looks like dad when he was a baby and that I have mom’s eyes.”

Acxa nodded along and ate up all the information, “And… who’s your mother?” She asked it, but she felt she already knew judging by the boy’s altean marks.

“My mom’s the Blue Paladin! Allura!”

Acxa nodded in understanding and looked at the man piloting the Black Lion. She was too late. But, judging by how Keith handled the child in his arms, she was glad that he’s happy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys! I'm sorry I sort of went MIA for a hot second there. I was dealing with some stressful family situations. It's not completely solved, but it's getting there. I just want to announce that I will no longer be following the episodes word for word. It's taking too long for me to rewrite the episodes and then add the kids into the mix, I'll be writing the episode from memory and will follow my own thought flow of the season. So don't be surprised if you see some dialogue that wasn't there, some events that didn't occur, etc. Also, I will be skipping some episodes for the sake of my sanity and to not bore you guys. I might include little snippets of some episodes, but I won't dedicate one whole chapter to a single episode when the kids will only be in it for a short while. That's all from me, thanks for your support. Drop a comment down below! It motivates me to keep churning these out! :)

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are much appreciated. (Chances are I get more motivated to write for this :))


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